Steak and Ale Pie
Bison Sirloin – Backyard Bison
Crimini Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Eggs – Mountain View Organics
Flour – Mill at Anselma
Onion – Hoagland Farms
Garlic – Jack’s Farm
Sage – Jack’s Farm
Milk – Camphill Village – Kimberton Hills Dairy
Smoked Sea Salt – Pureblend Teas
Non Local – Pepper, Olive Oil, Maple Porter Beer
Okay, I know I say this every week, but, I REALLY made a good one here. It’s no secret that I love garlic scapes, the spirally green vegetation that grows above the garlic bulb. In order to get a proper garlic harvest, the green shoots need to be cut back to allow the garlic bulb to grow and harden. Those shoots, or scapes, are gently garlicky, and can be cooked up much like scallions. After a little googling last week to find other uses for garlic scapes, I came to a brilliant conclusion. Garlic scapes could be steamed and blenderized and then used to make pasta (why no, I haven’t been on a pasta kick either), and then topped with a garlic scape pesto. That’s exactly what I did. I steamed the garlic scapes for about 10 minutes. Then, using a stick blender, added in a little of the water from the steam pot, and blended until I got a thick slurry of garlic scapes. Made and rolled the pasta using about 1/4th cup of the garlic scape slurry instead of water and allowed that to rest while I cooked up zucchini, diced scapes (yes, ALL THE SCAPES!), spring onions, and some crimini mushrooms along with pork sausage. The remaining garlic scape slurry was given a boost of smoked sea salt and a little olive oil to make the pesto sauce. Boiled the pasta, threw some sauce on top, added the sausage and vegetables to the plate, and there was dinner! A little chunk of cheese on the side of the plate finished off dinner – which, I’ve just finished off dinner as I’ve been sitting here typing this up for you, it was THAT GOOD.
Garlic Scape Pasta with Sausage and Vegetables:
Garlic Scapes – Jack’s Farm & North Star Orchards
Crimini Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – Mill at Anselma
Zucchini – North Star Orchards
Spring Onions – Jack’s Farm
Pork Sausage – Countrytime Farm
Smoked Sea Salt – Pureblend Teas
Fat Cat Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Non Local – Olive Oil
My, my, how time is flying already. It’s over a month of One Local Summer meals. For those of you late to the party, the One Local Summer challenge involves spending the summer (or at least here, our summer farmers market season) cooking one meal a week using only local ingredients with a few allowable exceptions (salt, olive oil, seasonings, etc). This is my third year of doing the One Local Summer challenge, and I’ve learned so much about my own cooking skills (or lack thereof sometimes), different foods, and new vegetables. The benefits are many, probably too many to list here, but for me, the big deal is that we can get soo much food locally, without hauling food across the country or even halfway around the world. I’d love to hear your take on eating locally and what’s important to you, and if you’re interested in participating too!
This week is an amazing Asian Pork Cutlet meal complete with Bok Choy and a little veggie side of spinach, mushrooms, and garlic scapes. I was SO excited to see garlic scapes this past weekend at our Phoenixville Farmers Market, that I couldn’t help but add them to the plate. The real big non local item this week was teriyaki sauce, but it was only used in the marinade, so I’m calling that a spice/seasoning and giving it a pass. The scapes and mushrooms were sauteed with a little butter, and then the heat was turned off, spinach added overtop, and then covered to allow the spinach to wilt. Meanwhile, just as the pork was nearing perfection on the grill, I dabbed the bok choy with a little olive oil and threw that on the grill as well. Everything came out so perfectly (or am I just that hungry?), I believe we have a HUGE win for today. No real recipe with this one, just your basic grilled pork and vegetables.
Asian Pork Cutlet w/ Vegetables:
Bok Choy – North Star Orchards
Garlic Scapes – North Star Orchards
Spinach – Maysie’s Farm
Portabella Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Pork Cutlets – Countrytime Farm
Non Local – Olive Oil, Butter, Soy sauce
Some of my favorite spring vegetables are finally ready to harvest and I’m just thrilled! This meal features items from vendors at both the Phoenixville Farmer’s Market and the Mill at Anselma Market. This one was all me this week and I found a bunch of fresh vegetables to toss in a creamy, white wine sauce along with a crust of Focaccia and some chicken. The pasta is the same old recipe I use every time I make pasta (1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, one tbsp olive oil, and 4 tbsp water [or one egg if you want egg pasta], add extra water to acheive the right consistency). With the power of our Kitchen Aid Mixer and the pasta roller/cutter attachment, this is really an easy process, and nothing beats making your own pasta. Sometime this summer, I have to figure out how to make flavored pastas by using vegetable puree in place of water. For the wine, I uncorked a bottle of Riesling we brewed up at home. It’s not entirely local, but it was made in our own kitchen, so that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. The sauce didn’t quite thicken and become creamy like I had hoped, but it’s still delicious, and infused itself into the vegetables. YUM. The chicken was marinated in wine and oil and cooked on the grill to perfection. All in all, the meal was REALLY delicious and I’m happy there are leftovers.
Spring Vegetable Pasta
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – Mill at Anselma
Chicken – Mt. View Organics
Focaccia – St. Peter’s Bakery
Sun Dried Tomato Cheese Spread – Birchrun Hills
Spinach – Maysie’s Farm
Crimini Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Asparagus – Hoagland Farm
Broccoli – Smith’s Produce
Spring Garlic – Brogue Hydroponics
Non Local – Olive Oil, Riesling (homebrewed!), pepper
We had picked up chip steak from Backyard Bison last week, knowing full well that we were going to do Philly Cheesesteaks, Local Summer style this week. So, all we needed were mushrooms, something resembling an onion, cheese, and some bread to finish the meal. Husband took the reins on this one and had everything ready to go for lunch when I got home. Perfect! The bread was supposed to be St. Peter’s Bakery’s rustic white, but somehow we ended up with an olive loaf instead (honest mistake) which worked out alright anyway!
Philly Cheesesteak
Bison Chip Steak – Backyard Bison
Crimini Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Experimental Cheese – Birchrun Hills Farm
Spring Garlic – Jack’s Farm
Bread – St. Peter’s Bakery
Smoked Sea Salt – Pureblend Teas
Non Local – olive oil, pepper
And I think I’m all caught up and to date finally with blog posts! This week, marking one half year of local meals, was a Pumpkin Galette using a Long Island Cheese pumpkin I brought home from the farmer’s market. I somehow managed to forget to grab some onions, so no onions, but I did end up using mushrooms simmered in some homebrew beer with garlic. Also substituted Chevre for the Fontina that the recipe calls for, and threw in some saffron that I grew this year (still incredibly excited about that discovery). And can I tell you? THIS WAS AMAZING. And filling. I could even see this done up in a casserole dish with some bison or even ham. Maybe I’ll throw a little bacon on next time. So many possibilities, but I’m definitely going to make this again!
Pumpkin Galette:
Long Island Cheese Pumpkin – Smith’s Produce
Saffron – My Garden
Sage – My Garden
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – Mill at Anselma
Bread Flour – Mill at Anselma
Trumpet Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushroom
Garlic – Maysie’s Farm
Chevre – Yellow Springs Farm (This was their Holiday spice cheese, flavored with maple syrup and pumpkin pie spices)
Non-local – Butter, salt, Olive Oil
Sister-in-law Brenda was in town this week and was flipping through the Cook’s Country compilation book for 2008. The husband had bought the book on super-sale at Amazon.com and we haven’t really made any of the recipes so far. So, when Brenda stumbled upon a recipe for Thin-Crust Skillet Pizza (August/September 2008, pg 18), I was more than happy to pull out the cast iron skillet and get cooking! The recipe calls for beer as the liquid in the dough, and we happened to have a homebrewed Hefeweizen on tap in the kegerator. It proved to be a good choice! The dough came out nice and crispy, and we had plenty of vegetables available for the topping. For me, this was easier and quicker than heating up the pizza stone, we didn’t have to wait for the dough to rise (no yeast – just beer and baking powder), and it was a delicious lunch to enjoy out on the patio.
Thin-Crust Skillet Pizza:
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – Mill at Anselma
Bread Flour – Mill at Anselma
Zucchini – Smith’s Produce
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms. Crimini
Tomatoes – My Garden. These are Super Italian Paste Tomatoes
Cheese – Birchrun Hills Farm. Clipper variety.
Sharp I Chevre – Shellbark Hollow Farm
Basil – My Garden
Onion – North Star Orchard
Non-local – Baking powder, sugar, salt, beer, olive oil
I got a little backed up with putting in posts, so here’s the catch-up! This week was a Summer Garden Galette. I pretty much threw in any vegetable I could find that would fit in the crust and wow was it good. There’s a decent amount of prep work involved since everything has to be cooked before it goes in the shell, but all that can be done while waiting for the crust to chill in the fridge. I guess it sounds easier than it is, but if you’ve made a pie crust before, it’s really the same process. The bottom layer is sweet potatoes covered by tomatoes and squash, mushrooms and onions, and then topped off with a heavy dose of goat cheese. YUM!
Summer Garden Galette:
Onion – North Star Orchard
Summer Squash – Smith’s Produce
Zucchini – Smith’s Produce
Sharp I Chevre – Shellbark Hollow Farm
Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes – My Garden
Sage – My Garden
Sweet Potatoes – Brogue Hydroponics
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms. Crimini.
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – Mill at Anselma
Non-local – Butter
I’m a little behind on blog posts, but better late than never! This week I fired up the grill and stuffed some chicken breasts. Lettuce, in July, you say? YES! Brogue Hydroponics grows it all year round, and by now, I think the One Local Summer readers know that I love my greens. So, clockwise, starting on the left, we have grilled squash, in the back is a salad with lettuce, mushrooms, and my first cucumbers from the garden, and in the front chicken stuffed with chevre, mushrooms, and peppers and grilled with a peach slice on top. Detail of the ingredients follows and this was certainly a delicious and filling meal!
Squash:
Zucchini – Smith’s Produce
Yellow Squash – Smith’s Produce
Salad:
Lettuce – Brogue Hydroponics
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms, Crimini variety
Cucumbers – My garden! White Ghost variety
Non-Local – Salad dressing
Chicken:
Chicken breast – Mountain View Organics
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms, Crimini variety
Peppers – That same producer at Anselma Mill that I can’t remember the name (still!)
Chevre – Shellbark Hollow Farm. This is their Sharp II Chevre.
Peach – Northstar Orchard
I really cannot believe it’s week ten already. I just didn’t feel like getting everything together and seriously cooking this week, but I did manage a meal. This week, I bring you a veggie panini!
Vegetable Panini:
Bread – Saint Peter’s Bakery. This is their wheat bread.
Yellow Squash – Arrgh I can never remember the name of this producer at the Anselma Market
Zucchini – Smith’s Produce
Onion – North Star Orchard
Cherry Tomatoes – Jack’s Farm
Eggplant – Smith’s Produce
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms. Crimini Mushrooms.
Colby Dill Cheese – Conabella Farms. This cheese is absolutely amazing.